Royal Baby: Prince Charles hopes next royal baby will be a girl

As the nation waits to see when the Duchess of Cambridge will give birth, Prince Charles has spoken of his hope that his second grandchild will be a girl.

The Prince of Wales made the admission as he met the oldest surviving member of the Welsh Guards on 30 April, at Windsor Castle.

"We're hoping for a granddaughter," he told a delighted Eric Jones, 100, from Merthyr Tydfil.

Mr Jones said that the prince was "very down to Earth, one of the boys."

"I thought it was wonderful. It was nice he felt he could tell me how he felt," he said.

Prince Charles accompanied the Queen on Thursday, as she presented new colours to the 1st battalion Welsh Guards and met veterans and their families.

Mr Jones' daughter, Lynda Bateman, 70, said: "We'd been introduced to the Queen and Prince Philip and then someone approached us saying that Prince Charles wanted to meet my father.

"He said my father was looking well and asked how many daughters he had.

"My dad said, 'just the one and that's enough'. We all laughed and Prince Charles said, 'we're hoping for a granddaughter this time.'"

"I couldn't believe it when he said it," she said. "Prince Charles and Camilla were so nice and made my dad feel very special."

In September, the heir to the throne first revealed he and the Duchess of Cornwall were hoping for a girl.

When he was congratulated on becoming a grandfather to Prince George, he said: "I am already. But it's wonderful to be a grandfather again. I'm looking forward to it - but I hope it will be a girl this time."

The royal baby is now several days overdue, and dozens of journalists and die-hard royalists have been waiting outside London's St. Mary's Hospital for days in the hope the Duchess of Cambridge will go into labour soon.